What kind of city is Buffalo?
“Buffalo is like a mini Detroit. It’s a very evacuated city, a very unemployed city. It’s always been alarming to me that if some other country had come in and devastated downtown Buffalo out of malice, we’d be enraged. And yet we’ve done it to ourselves. It’s really unfortunate ’cause that’s a large part of our wealth as a society–our beautiful old buildings and art. [Babeville is] a beautiful, beautiful building that’s now full of people making art.” You just put out a book of poetry. Do you look at poems differently in a book than on a record? Ani DiFranco Wed., July 9, 8pm. $36-$46. With Regina Spektor. Mann Center for the Performing Arts, 52nd St. and Parkside Ave. 215.893.1999. www.manncenter.org “My writing for many, many years has been spoken word, writing being just part of the process. It was a bit terrifying to take these spoken-word pieces and try to put them on a page. How do you lay them out so the rhythm is conveyed? It’s a very different medium.” Was it intimidating? “
